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Category: Inventions, Innovations (wef. Feb 01sy, 2022
Students of King Abdulaziz University won 41 medals during their participation in the 48th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions.
The recently concluded exhibition saw 825 exhibitors from 44 countries take part with more than 1,000 inventions.
The head of innovation at the university, Dr. Iqbal Ismail, told Arab News: “Other Saudi universities are also participating. However, the participation of King Abdulaziz University at this exhibition is the largest and has been ongoing since 2016.”
Dr. Hana Al-Naim, acting president of the university, praised the achievements of the university’s male and female students, which have contributed both to the community and the Kingdom’s ranking, regionally and globally, in the field of creativity and innovation.
The students came from the university’s various colleges including departments of medicine, engineering, information technology and nursing.
Rahaf Alem and Raghad Al-Jundi won the International Federation of Inventors Association Award for the invention of a laser blood disease detector, also winning the gold medal.
A special prize from Taiwan was awarded to student Faisal Al-Subaie for inventing a cistern made from palm fronds to provide irrigation water.
Ahmed Al-Zahrani, Saleh Bakraa, Marwan Al-Jadaani, and Mohammed Al-Khamis also won the special award for their automated diagnostic platform.
The silver medal was awarded to Duaa Al-Shabani, Lama Al-Jelani, Gaitha Al-Khatami, Emtinan Yamani, and Hadeel Al-Lazori for their invention of an antimicrobial agent for dialysis patients.
Several Saudi inventions received the bronze medal. Safwan Hashim and Abdullah Abu Thyab won it for their renewable-energy car umbrella and Abdullah Al-Khotami for his work on protective glasses that shield wearers from thermal diseases.
Hala Mogarbel, Shahad Asiri, and Shatha Al-Sulami won the bronze medal for their urinary catheter holder invention.
Dina Al-Shibeeni, Marwa Bakour, and Hind Al-Rashid also won the bronze medal for the invention of an artificial intelligence gardening system.
The invention of a bedsore-proof bed earned Bateel Bajamal, Rena Al-Qahtani, Joud Hakami, Asmaa Bahmeed, and Shahad Al-Nahdi the bronze medal.
Shathar Al-Shabak, Jumana Al-Madhoun, Njoud Al-Ghamdi, and Raneem Saati were also awarded for their invention of “Minqath,” a drowning warning system.
Finally, Sumayah Baamer, Raniya Baksh, Rahaf Al-Saeed, and Deema Majashi won the bronze medal for school environment safety measures using artificial intelligence.
Ismail said: “There is no doubt that such student participation will have a great impact on raising a generation that thinks and researches in a scientific way and develops appropriate solutions to the problems facing the…community.”
He added that the exhibition constitutes an important opportunity to transform inventions into products that can be manufactured and marketed inside and outside the Kingdom.
Al-Naim will honor the exhibition’s winning students in a ceremony on Wednesday.
Five other coders win $50,000 each in awards presented by Dubai Crown Prince for top apps.
A Syrian coder on Wednesday won $1 million (around Dh3.67 million) in the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ contest during an award ceremony in Dubai facilitated by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of The Executive Council and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dubai Future Foundation.
Six software projects developed by Arab youth from around the world competed for the grand prize, thanks to the programming skills they acquired during their participation in the initiative’s courses.
On Wednesday, during the closing ceremony held at the Museum of the Future in Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan presented the awards to winners, with Mahmoud Shahoud, a Syrian coder who lives in Turkey, taking home the $1 million top prize.
Sheikh Hamdan tweeted: “Today, we honoured the winners of the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ Challenge, the UAE’s initiative to nurture the development of technology skills among Arab youth. 1.85 million Arab participants from 80 countries took part in the initiative along with 3,600 certified trainers.”
He added: “The Challenge opens fresh opportunities for Arab youth and offers a new path for them to achieve their dreams… Congratulations.”
Sheikh Hamdan added: “The ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative provided the opportunity for one million Arabs to enter the digital world. It fulfilled the dreams of tens of thousands of Arab programmers from all over the world. Its outcomes and successes will be the basis for many upcoming Arab achievements in the world of technology and coding. One Million Arab Coders’ has paved the way for Arab youth to broaden their horizons and sparked their innovation and creativity in the field of advanced technology.”
He added that the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative, which was launched in 2017 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has succeeded in becoming a gateway for many Arab youth to use their programming skills to realise their dreams and aspirations.
“We look forward to our Arab coders continuing their pioneering innovations and expanding their achievements. We expect their names and future accomplishments to light up the sky worldwide.
“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s vision for the region’s future is based on investing in the development of the Arab people. The language of programming is one of the pillars of the knowledge economy and a major bridge to a future in which those who possess scientific excellence will have the upper hand,” Sheikh Hamdan concluded.
Shahoud was adjudged winner for his ‘Habit360’ app that helps users create and maintain good habits, allowing them to achieve long-term goals. Shahoud said half of the prize winning will go towards helping Syrian refugees. The rest will be invested in Dubai as Shahoud plans to shift his base to the emirate and start his own business.
Sahoud is a software engineer from Syria who developed Habit360 that helps people build new habits, track their progress and stay motivated. The application has served more than 200,000 users from around the world.
Beside Shahoud, there were five other winners announced on Wednesday.
About the initiative
The ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative is supervised by the Dubai Future Foundation and organised under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.
The closing ceremony held at Dubai’s Museum of the Future on Wednesday was to honour the best Arab talents in coding, and highlight best coding projects developed by graduates of the initiative to serve their communities and create a better future for humanity.
A total of $1.35 million was given away in prizes during the ceremony.
Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Managing Director of the Dubai Future Foundation, said: “The ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative embodies the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum [Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai] , to provide new opportunities for Arab youth, empowering their contributions to the advancement of technologies globally, and to put a clear Arab footprint in the future of humanity.”
Aimed at youth
He said the initiative aimed mainly at empowering Arab youth around the world with the tools of the future, and providing them with the opportunity to gain new experiences and skills that would help them turn their dreams into successful projects that benefit their societies and have a positive impact on their lives.
“The initiative was a glimmer of hope for Arab youth around the globe that success is not bound by place, age, or obstacles. Rather, success requires insistence on acquiring the experiences and skills that will be needed in the future,” Al Gergawi said.
He pointed out that the initiative was a cornerstone for countless success stories where coding helped create a positive impact on the future of humanity, and spread hope in the Arab region.
Al Gergawi stressed the importance of the initiative’s role in encouraging Arab coders to innovate and start developing software projects that not only meet the needs of their societies, but also foresee and adapt to its future requirements and changes, pointing to the initiative’s success in developing a leading global experience to teach coding skills in an effective manner, which was adopted in Jordan and Uzbekistan.
Saeed Mohammad Al Gergawi, Director, Dubai Future Academy, said: “We have 400 million Arabs and that is a lot of talent. Our criteria is that they had to be impactful, ready to be implemented and creative.”
Other winners
In addition to the grand prize for the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ challenge, the five best projects will receive prizes of $50,000 each, and four of the best trainers participating in the initiative will be honoured with prizes of $25,000 each. The finalists were chosen by a specialised jury that comprises many experts in the fields of entrepreneurship and future technologies.
Egyptian–Canadian Andrew Makram won $50,000 for his app called ‘Najeeb’, a platform for exams, tests and quizzes. “It is a cross-platform tool for teachers and educators to create and share paperless quizzes online. What the app does is that it allows students to access the quiz remotely, submit answers and receive the result instantly. Realtime submitted data are available to educators for revision and evaluation purposes,” he said.
Makram added that it took him a month to develop the app and it is in prototype form.
Egyptian entrepreuner Eman Magdy was another winner who has developed an app for the benefit of working women in Egypt. She won a prize for her initiative to ease the burden of working women in Egypt.
“The app is called 3lfraza. It is a platform to support homestay women in Egypt. Basically homestay women help working women to prepare vegetable and meat cuts and meals. Currently 9,000 women are registered from Egypt. We hope more women for all over the world use this to help one another. The app supports small vendors, helping busy mums in their day to day lives,” she said.
Meanwhile Mohamed ElEskandarany developed an app called ‘Muaahal’ to help youth to develop new skills. “It is a platform that aims to qualify Arab youth and prepare them well in the fields of their choice to work in suitable jobs or to start their own business. In addition, helping companies to find qualified employees, and to solve the problem of unemployment and increase the productivity of youth,” he said.
Another winner, Ammar Salim, won in the initiative for his app called Qeraaty Alnateqa which helps in speaking-reading program for the deaf and mute. “It is a speaking program to teach reading and writing to deaf and mute children. With a new sign language system and tool for converting the sign of only two fingers from the fingers of the hand to spoken letters and words,” said Salim.
Last but not the least, Hasan Mohamed won the prize for his ‘Chat translation app’.
“It is a mobile app that provides a textual and vocal chat for people of different languages in different places around the world ,to convert people’s speech in different languages into written texts, translate texts from one language to another, and convert translated texts into spoken speech again,” said Mohamed.
Software expertise
Sheikh Mohammed launched the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ challenge in July 2021 with the aim of recognising and honouring the achievements of Arab talents in the field of programming and creating an opportunity for participants in the initiative to showcase their innovative projects, developed using programming skills and the experience gained during their participation.
The challenge saw a total of 257 projects submitted by the initiative’s graduates from 50 different countries in various sectors related to programming, technology and entrepreneurship in the areas of website and mobile application development. In order to qualify for the final stage and compete for the million-dollar prize, the nominees were selected according to a set of main criteria, including the project idea, the innovation quality, and ease of use.
Jury
The jury for the final round included Fadi Ghandour, Chairman of Wamda Capital; Bashar Kilani, Managing Director of Accenture Middle East; Dr. Abdul Latif Al Shamsi, Director of the Higher Colleges of Technology; and Ronaldo Mouchawar, Vice President of Amazon Middle East.
Supervised by the Dubai Future Foundation, the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative has seen 1,058,265 people from around the world participate virtually in millions of hours of study and work, as well as tens of thousands of training workshops. Since its launch, 1,500 “Nano Degree” certificates have been awarded to distinguished participants and promising talents. The initiative featured more than 3,600 certified trainers from around the world.
Serving humanity
Led by the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) and organised under the umbrella of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), ‘One Million Arab Coders’ is the largest initiative of its kind in the world. The initiative aims to teach one million young people from the Arab world to code and enable them to launch exceptional projects and programmes that serve Arab societies, drawing on the science and skills gained from their training.
The initiative embodies Sheikh Mohammed’s vision to empower Arab youth with the tools of the future to serve humanity and build a brighter future for the region. The challenge forms part of the UAE’s continuous efforts make a positive impact on the world.
Partnerships
The ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative is supported by the Hussein Sajwani – DAMAC Foundation, which focuses on supporting learning opportunities and developing skills to stimulate profitable social and economic participation, and empowering societies in the Arab world to achieve a sustainable future. The Udacity digital learning platform also supported the initiative by offering educational content and training in necessary skills for future jobs. The list of partners of the initiative also included many international technology companies, including Microsoft, Facebook, Oracle, Careem and others.
The initiative also provides the world with a pioneering model for promoting the development of programming skills. It was adopted in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which launched the ‘One Million Jordanian Coders’ initiative in May 2019. The initiative was introduced with the aim of making Jordan a world leader in the field of programming. The ‘One Million Uzbek Coders’ initiative, launched through a partnership between the governments of the UAE and the Republic of Uzbekistan, was announced in November 2019, with the aim of providing Uzbek youth with an opportunity to acquire skills in programming, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, to contribute to the development of innovative technology-based solutions and services.
source/content: gulfnews.com (headline edited)
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Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (centre) with the winners / Image Credit: Supplied
Manar al Jahwari won Saudi Arabian Innovation Hackathon award for her project Royal Filament.
Oman’s own Manar al Jahwari competed against 24 projects (shortlisted out of 700 total projects) in the final round of the Saudi Arabian Innovation Hackathon award, where her project was chosen along with three others as the most promising project.
Her project aimed at restricting the use of plastic filaments in 3D printing, and she fashioned 3D printing filament out of seaweed and other environment-friendly materials. She is currently in talks with government agencies to make her project a viable business, and she hopes to attract numerous local and international investors.
The Saudi Arabian Water Technologies Hackathon is a competition held virtually that lasts for two days, October 21 and 22, and involves three challenges that need to be solved within the given two days.
The second challenge was to control the excessive growth of algae in Jeddah’s desalination facilities, for which Al Jahwari came up with the innovative solution of “Royal Filament.”
Americans born in or with ancestral ties to Arab-speaking countries have made countless significant scientific, medical and engineering contributions.
While Americans born in or with ancestral ties to Arab countries have made countless significant scientific, medical and engineering contributions, most have never made it into record books. From cryptography, to the artificial heart, to the iPod, here are a few examples of some of the major advancements by Arab Americans.
1. Television Transmission and LCD Screens
Born in Nabatieh, Lebanon in 1895, Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah studied and then taught mathematics at the American University of Beirut before immigrating to the United States in 1921. After a brief stint studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Al-Sabbah earned a master’s degree in engineering sciences from the University of Illinois, says Lujine Nasralla, communications specialist at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
“In 1923, General Electric (GE) hired him to work in its Engineering Laboratory under a contract that awarded him a dollar for each of his patents,” Nasralla explains, noting that between 1927 and 1935, he applied for patents for 52 of his inventions while working at GE. Some of the patents Al-Sabbah was awarded during his time at GE include three for innovations in television transmission technology (granted between 1928 and 1930), and two for cathode ray tubes (1935).
Though Al-Sabbah died in a car accident 1935, GE engineers continued to rely on the technology he invented, including developing the liquid crystal display (LCD) based on one of his patents. Al-Sabbah made numerous other significant contributions to science, technology and engineering, especially in the field of solar energy.
2. Emotion Recognition Technology
RANA EL KALIOUBY, CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF AFFECTIVA, SPEAKING DURING THE NEW WORK SUMMIT, CALIFORNIA, 2019. / DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
While Rana El Kaliouby was completing her doctoral research at the University of Cambridge in England in the early 2000s, she never felt as though she could ever truly connect with her loved ones back home. “Away from her family and friends in Egypt, El Kaliouby wished her computer could better convey her emotional state,” Nasralla says. That’s when she decided to find a way to make more emotionally intelligent technology.
After earning her doctorate, El Kaliouby took a position as a research scientist in the Affective Computing group in the MIT Media Lab. There, she was part of a team that developed an “emotional hearing aid,” as well as a pair of eyeglasses that could read emotions, along with social cues. Officially known as “the Emotional-Social Intelligence Prosthesis,” El Kaliouby and a colleague created the wearable technology in 2006 for people living with autism who have difficulty identifying and processing other people’s emotions as they communicate.
In 2009, El Kaliouby and the same MIT colleague co-founded a company called Affectiva, which used deep learning, computer vision, speech science and vast amounts of real-world data to develop emotion recognition technology. “Her pioneering technology accurately reads minute changes in facial expressions that convey emotions,” Nasralla says, adding that El Kaliouby is a member of the Women in Engineering Hall of Fame.
3. The iPod and iPhone
TONY FADELL, WHO OVERSAW THE DESIGN OF THE IPOD AND IPHONE, PHOTOGRAPHED IN SINGAPORE, 2019 / WEI LENG TAY/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when listening to music outside of your home meant bringing the physical album with you on a record, audio cassette or compact disc. And while portable MP3 players existed before 2001, none were popular enough to make the device the standard way of listening to music on the go. That is, until Apple CEO Steve Jobs hired Arab American inventor Anthony “Tony” Fadell and put him in charge of a new special projects group within the company tasked with doing exactly that.
The result was the iPod, which launched in 2001. Fadell, who is now known as “ the father of iPod,” went on to oversee the first 18 iterations of the device before Jobs gave him his next assignment: to create a mobile phone with many of the same features as the iPod.
This time, the end product was the iPhone, which essentially allowed people to carry a highly compact computer with internet capability around at all times, and, in the process, changing the way people access information. Fadell was involved with developing the first three generations of the iPhone.
4. Developments in Surgery
HEART SPECIALIST DR. MICHAEL DEBAKEY, C. 1994. / F. CARTER SMITH/SYGMA/GETTY IMAGES
Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1908 to Lebanese immigrants, Michael DeBakey (the Anglicized form of Debaghi) grew up spending time in his father’s pharmacy and enjoyed sewing, gardening and learning how motors and other machinery work. He earned his medical degree in 1932 and served in the Surgical Consultants Division of the Army Surgeon General’s Office from 1942 to 1946.
It was during this time that DeBakey and his colleagues developed special units dedicated to providing surgical care to soldiers wounded near the front lines. They were first deployed in 1943, though are best known for their work during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, when they were known as the Mobile Auxiliary Surgical Hospital (MASH) units.
DeBakey’s surgical contributions continued for the next several decades and included performing the first successful removal of a blockage of the carotid artery (1953), developing the concept behind coronary bypass surgery (1963), pioneering the field of telemedicine with the first demonstration of open-heart surgery transmitted overseas via satellite (1965), and being the first to use a partial artificial heart (1966).
5. Internet Security
While internet security is top-of-mind now, that wasn’t the case when Egyptian-born cryptographer Taher Elgamal began his pioneering work in the field in the 1980s. “Elgamal published a paper in 1984, ‘A Public Key Cryptosystem and a Signature Scheme based on Discrete Logarithms,’ which became the basis of the Elgamal Digital Signature algorithm,” says Richard Gardner, a software developer and CEO of Modulus. This work was then utilized in the development of the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA).”
Elgamal’s work became even more influential after the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) adopted it as the Digital Signature Standard (DSS). “Like the name implies, it became the standard for electronic signatures,” Gardner explains.
And according to Abdulrahman Henedy, an Arab American entrepreneur and founder of Financeive , Elgamal’s invention of the discrete logarithm was also an important milestone in cryptography. “His work inspired other encryption variations and paved the way to create more advanced algorithms, like Advanced Encryption Standard,” he explains.
In addition, Elgamal was the driving force behind the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), a protocol that keeps online communications like email and instant messaging secure. Because of this major technological development, he is known as the “father of SSL.”
6. The Waffle Cone
Though it may not be the most high-tech invention on the list, the waffle cone stands out not only because it’s delicious, but because not one, but four different Arab Americans claimed to have invented it. And what’s perhaps even more bizarre, is that in an origin story with so many inconsistencies, all four of the men contend that their ice cream innovation was born at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition—better known as the Saint Louis World’s Fair.
According to Nasralla, Ernest Hamwi, Nick Kabbaz, Abe Doumar and Leon B. Holwey each had their own story about how they came up with the waffle cone in 1904. “We give credit to all four of them, but we don’t recognize any of the stories as more plausible than the others,” she explains. “It remains a mystery to this day!”
But that mystery extends beyond which of the Arab American vendors (if any) deserves credit for the waffle cone. That’s because on top of these four narratives, there are several other origin stories , including some that took place prior to 1904. And though we may never know who first devised a handheld edible ice cream container, it’s safe to say that the 1904 World Fair and its Arab American dessert vendors did have a hand in popularizing what we now know as the waffle cone.
source/content: history.com (headline edited) / Elizabeth Yuko
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HEART SURGEON DR. MICHAEL DEBAKEY. CREDIT: BETTMANN ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
We were scouting impressive Arab female scientists and we realised that these visionaries need more spotlight.
Earlier this year, The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Middle East Regional Young Talents Program, now in its ninth year, recognized and supported five trailblazing women from the GCC region for their ground-breaking work in the fields of life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, and computer science.
The regional program is part of the L’Oréal-UNESCO’s global For Women in Science initiative, in partnership with Khalifa University of Science and Technology. The outstanding researchers were awarded funds totaling EUR 76,000 to advance their creative work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Fostering and empowering upcoming female scientists and their ground-breaking research, particularly in the GCC region, where women scientists’ contributions are crucial to finding answers for pressing global issues including climate change, food shortages, pandemics, future technology, and cybersecurity.
The award winners stand for the most driven and ambitious women in the region who are unafraid to overcome obstacles in their quest to develop creative solutions to issues that have a social impact. They also serve as role models for young girls who are just beginning their careers in STEM.
UAE has achieved significant progress in ensuring equality and representation in all spheres, from the educational system to the forefront of important scientific and technical achievements led by women, which has improved its competitiveness on the world stage.
About the Middle East Regional Young Talents:
PhD student Hessa Ebrahim Ali Alfalahi (UAE): For her studies on the early identification and diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and depression utilizing smartphone data gathered in the outdoors using revolutionary Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms.
PhD student Ayesha Abdulla Alkhoori (UAE): For her work on the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into clean fuel to reduce global warming and address the energy problem.
Post-doctorate researcher Dr. Maha Zakariya Yahya Al-Riyami (Oman): for her investigation of somatic mutations in type 1 diabetes, which may open up new research directions in the study of autoimmune diseases.
Post-doctorate researcher Dr. Raefa Abou Khouzam (UAE): For her research on examining innovative treatments to thwart the development and spread of pancreatic cancer.
Post-doctorate researcher Dr. Fatiha M. Benslimane (Qatar): For her work on creating a quick, dependable, and affordable microbiological analysis procedure that would enable real-time diagnosis.
Dubai – Dubai is the also the most record-breaking city not just within the country but also across the Mena region.
The UAE is far ahead in achieving the Guinness World Records regionally as the country boasts 425 GWRs with 34 of them were achieved in 2020 alone.
Dubai is the also the most record-breaking city not just within the country but also across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.
“The UAE is currently home to 425 Guinness World Records titles, making it the biggest record-breaking country in the Mena region… Dubai has the lion share of titles in the country with around 60 per cent of the overall number,” said Danny Hickson, senior events production manager at Guinness World Records Ltd in Dubai.
Global Village, a multicultural family entertainment destination, achieved two records in November alone. The first record was set by having the most LED lights ever on a car. The vehicle had 36,676 LED lights. The feat began two weeks ago as the park achieved the record for the most videos in a music medley video following the Rockin’1000 Season 25 opening concert.
Global Village aims to break 25 records this season as part of its Silver Jubilee anniversary celebrations.
Emirati shipbuilder Obaid Jumaa bin Majid Al Falasi also made it into the history by building the world’s largest dhow, a wooden Arabic boat, measuring 91.47-metre long and 20.41-metre wide. That is equal to the length and almost half the width of a standard American football field floating over the Indian Ocean.
Dubai’s Nakheel Mall, too, recently broke the record for the world’s largest fountain, measuring a whole 7,327 m2. The record breaking fountain named The Palm Fountain was designed a with tricks including colour and brightness controls.
The emirate is also home to the world’s tallest hotel – 75-storey Gevora Hotel, measuring 356.33 metres tall from the group level to the top.
Danny Hickson said Saudi Arabia comes second with 96 Guinness World Records titles, while Egypt is not far in the third place with 93 titles.
On September 23, Saudi Arabia achieved the Guinness World Record for the largest fireworks display in multiple cities as the display consisted of 962,168 fireworks.
“What’s brilliant about breaking world records with brands in the UAE is that there is almost a chance to do something different with the heritage. Brands and individuals think it is impossible to be break world records, but we believe everyone is amazing in his own way, and we are here to make their achievement Officially Amazing!,” said Hickson.
“We have seen the tallest house of cards build in 12 hours, sat on top of a washing machine, to demonstrate its reduced vibrations and noise levels; and an iconic car brand celebrated its 80th anniversary by breaking the record for the largest loop the loop in a car! Would we find amazing talents among Khaleej Times readers?,” concluded Hickson.
British and Egyptian government officials celebrated on Monday seven years of cooperation between the two countries under the Newton-Mosharafa Fund, which supports research and innovation programmes to advance economic development and social welfare, tackle global challenges and develop talent and careers.
Participating in the celebration were the British Embassy in Cairo, the British Council, together with the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research’s Science, Technology and Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) and the Central Department of Missions (CDM).
The fund is named after British mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton, one of the most influential scientists in history, and the Egyptian theoretical physicist Doctor Ali Mustafa Mosharafa, who contributed to the development of quantum theory.
It is the largest science and innovation partnership between Egypt and the UK in history.
The ceremony started with speeches by the British Ambassador to Egypt Gareth Bayley, British Council Country Director Elizabeth White, and Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Yasser Refaat
It was followed by a panel discussion on the role of international collaboration in science and research.
The discussion involved professor Guy Daly, provost and senior vice-president of the British University in Egypt; Shaimaa Lazem, international collaboration programme manager at STDF; Dr Marco Zaki, lecturer of biochemistry and cell biology and founder of the NILE CAN research laboratory at Minia University; and Irene Gabriel, director of the Smart Engineering Systems Research Centre at Nile University.
At the ceremony, the British ambassador expressed his pride in celebrating the alumni from the joint British-Egyptian programme.
“These outstanding scientists are the leaders of tomorrow, and today’s event pays tribute to them and to the legacy of the Newton Mosharafa Fund, one of the largest science and innovation partnerships between Egypt and any country,” he said.
He went on to note that the alumni are working to make the world a better place everyday through their research into curing cancer, achieving food and water security and “making the earth a safer, healthier and more sustainable place to live in.”
During her speech, British Council Egypt Director Elizabeth White observed that the fund has supported her country’s long-term approach by “building the next generation of scientists”
“For seven years, we have worked with our partners to enable the exchange of learning and ideas between scientists in the UK and Egypt,” she added.
She concluded by saying that the British Council will remain committed to opening up access to science and research to support UK-Egypt priorities.
Funding Egypt’s long-term sustainable development
The fund is valued at £55 million over seven years; the cost is shared between the UK and Egyptian governments.
It focuses on five main areas identified by the Egyptian government as priorities for their long-term sustainable development: water management, renewable energy, food production, archaeological and cultural heritage and affordable and inclusive healthcare.
These priorities are closely related to Egypt’s Vision 2030 sustainable development strategy, as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Since its launch in 2014, the Newton-Mosharafa Fund has provided 282 scholarships to Egyptian researchers to obtain a doctoral degree, in addition to funding 69 research partnerships between Egyptian and UK universities. Research related to health care had a significant share of it, amounting to about 69 percent of doctoral scholarships and about 22 percent of research partnerships.
Notable alumni
Some of the outstanding Newton-Mosharafa alumni who attended the ceremony include: Dr Marco Zaki, winner of the Newton Prize for his research on treating liver cancer, and Dr Irene Gabriel, who is a Newton Mosharafa grant holder. She lead a research team at Nile University together with Nottingham University to turn dried shrimp shells into thin films of biodegradable plastic that can be used to make eco-friendly grocery bags and packaging.
Shaimaa Lazem, who is an associate research professor at the City of Scientific Research and Technology Applications (SRTA-City), was awarded Newton-Mosharafa grants three times. Her work focuses on designing prototypes for technologies that serve the rural communities in Egypt. She is currently working with artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups in Africa as part of a Google Research for Inclusion and Google AI Awards.
Also in attendance was Yasser Shabana, who developed adaptation strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change on wheat, maize and food production in Egypt.
The fonts, celebrating the Kingdom’s culture, will be available free of charge.
The Ministry of Culture on Monday launched an initiative creating three new Saudi fonts.
The fonts, celebrating the Kingdom’s culture, will be available free of charge to individuals and organizations wishing to use them in design, artistic, and creative works, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Masmak font has been named after the historic Masmak Fortress, characterized by its durability and strong structure. The font has been described as clear and easy to read and was developed without reference to traditional calligraphy methods, the SPA said.
The second new font, Al-Naseeb, resembles handwritten notes, and has been recommended for use in headlines, texts, literary works, poetry, and children’s stories.
Watad, the third font, was inspired by the tent peg with its letters having curved corners. Its suggested use was for text relating to festivals and sporting events.
The Ministry of Culture launched the initiative in celebration of the Arabic language. In a statement, it said: “It is introducing a unique touch that gives a Saudi identity to Arabic fonts and celebrates Saudi heritage and cultural symbols.”
The IFFCO Group, one of the UAE’s largest producers of food products, has opened the first 100-percent plant-based meat factory in the region, in Dubai.
Located in the Dubai Industrial City, the THRYVE factory will catalyse the move towards a more sustainable and healthy food chain in the Middle East, actively supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the UAE’s Vision 2051 initiative to bolster food security through diversity and innovation. The factory will provide nourishing, sustainable and healthy local plant-based meat products inspired by the unique flavours of Middle Eastern cuisine.
Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, said, “The new 100-percent plant-based meat factory supports the UAE’s Food Security Strategy and our mandate to mitigate the impact of climate change. The opening of this innovative new facility also supports our efforts to protect the country’s ecosystems and enhance its food and water security and diversify our food sources. By fostering such robust research and development focused on producing innovative food products, we seek to raise the UAE’s ability to move up the global food industry value chain and achieve first place on the Global Food Security Index by 2051. The new factory represents a significant contribution to sustainability in the food supply chain.”
Hadi Badri, CEO of the Dubai Economic Development Corporation at Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism said, “The opening of this factory, which will pave the way for a dynamic new industry that will boost trade across the region, is a reflection of the UAE’s commitment to pioneer the use of innovative technologies to provide sustainable solutions to real world problems. It contributes to Dubai’s economic diversification journey in line with the goal of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 to consolidate the emirate’s status as one of the top three global cities. The new facility is a testament to the pivotal role being played by Dubai in promoting the growth and evolution of environmentally sound practices that can alleviate the effects of climate change. By providing opportunities for private companies to invest in sustainable technologies, Dubai is accelerating the creation of a robust and resilient green economy.
“Such initiatives also reflect Dubai’s success in creating a fertile environment for new businesses and investors to thrive, and generating new job opportunities. Dubai and the UAE will continue to work with stakeholders and partners to remain at the forefront of innovation and economic sustainability, inspired by the ambition of our visionary leadership to create a better future for all.”
Saud Abu Alshawareb, Executive Vice President, Industrial Leasing, Dubai Industrial City, said, “DIC is an ideal location for initiatives like the IFFCO Group’s plant-based meat factory that underscore the importance of food security. The Dubai Industrial City is home to a growing number of Dubai-based food manufacturers who are leading the way in introducing innovative food products. This new enterprise adds value to the industry while strengthening our reputation as facilitators of a self-reliant food programme.”
The THRYVE plant-based venture, developed using cutting-edge food technology, contributes to at least three UN’s SDG’s: good health and well-being, responsible consumption and production, and climate action.
The only 100 percent plant-based meat factory in the Middle East, IFFCO’s THRYVE will leverage advanced food technologies to produce tasty, healthy, sustainable and culturally relevant food that meets the needs of the local consumer. In addition, IFFCO is working closely with the government to create regulatory standards for plant-based food products.
The global plant-based meat market was estimated to be worth US$7.9 billion in 2022, and is forecast to reach US$15.7 billion by 2027, according to a report from ResearchAndMarkets.com. The newly opened THRYVE factory will cater to 30 percent of the GCC population, stimulating the development of the market for local plant-based products. As per proprietary research, the GCC has the potential to be a future leader in developing food products for flexitarians, people whose diet is primarily vegetarian.
